A police detective's son was shot to death Monday afternoon at a public housing project in Brooklyn--possibly, gang retaliation.

Our friends at the NYPD's press office didn't get around to sending out a report on this one, so we had to rely on the tabloids for the details.

The Daily News says that 19-year-old Sean Hayes was hit in the chest twice by gunfire near a playground outside the Marcy Houses in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. He was taken to Woodhull Hospital, where he was declared dead at 3 p.m., the News reported.

Hayes' father is Det. Sean Lawrence, a two-decade NYPD veteran assigned to the Brooklyn warrants squad. Lawrence told the News, "We've got a lot of family here. Everybody will be taking a piece of my sorrow with them to make it less for me."

The New York Post said that police "suspect" that the shooting was retaliation for an earlier incident, and Hayes was the target. The Post also noted that Hayes had a minor criminal record.

Know anything about the case? Drop us a line at grayman@villagevoice.com.